The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

68 Gozu and Mezu

A video played on the phone. Poppy was drunk. She walked aimlessly, bumping into a group of men who were surrounding her, laughing. Roger could identify Donny, Lary, and Brian among the crowd.

Poppy looked so drunk that she lost control of herself. Then, the assholes stripped the girl of her clothes and told her to dance. Poppy didn’t fight back. She did what the men told her to do.

In her life, Poppy had never drunk much liquor. Because she was not good at handling alcohol, she could only drink one glass of beer at most. Poppy didn’t know, if she got drunk, then she would do crazy things without realizing it. Poppy followed what the bunch of assholes told her, like a wooden doll controlled by the strings. She danced erotically naked like a whore. Then, one by one the men took turns to r*pped her. They recorded the whole heart-aching incident on Donny’s cell phone which they continued to pass from hand to hand.

“In our agreement, Poppy will agree to work as a porn star in this company in one condition that I don’t share this video with anyone. But.. it seems Poppy doesn’t care about this video anymore, because last night, her face was already shown, spreading to all over the world during the live show. Isn’t it right, honey?” He kissed Poppy’s forehead roughly. Meanwhile, the girl could only cry hysterically while looking down, holding back the shame that seemed to be able to kill her.

Roger’s jaw hardened. His eyes were bloodshot, filled with anger. Then..

BUGH!!

Somehow, the blue-eyed man slipped from the grip of the two men who were holding him. And, he managed to hit Donny’s hand quickly and hardly. The cell phone that was in Donny’s hand immediately bounced away.

Roger quickly elbow-nudged the jaws of the two men who wanted to hold him back. One of them fainted, but the other didn’t. But one man who was still conscious, choose to immediately flee to the stairs instead. He couldn’t take the situation anymore and didn’t want to risk getting hurt more if he was around them any longer.

Donny immediately let go of Poppy and parried Roger’s came back punch. Poppy shrieked as she shuffled back away from the two men.

.....

***

Emma stepped up the stairs. Then, she was quite surprised when suddenly a man appeared quickly down the stairs. Thinking that he was an enemy, Emma immediately punched him in the face until the man fainted and rolled down. But she didn’t know that the guy was just an ordinary film crew.

The noise was getting louder and louder from the next floor. Emma quickened her pace. But the steps were stopped at the cross of the stairs when her shoe accidentally kicked a black object lying on the floor. It was a phone that the screen was still on, even though it was cracked.

Emma took the phone. The screen showed a video that has finished playing. It final image, which was Lary’s blurry face, made Emma play the video suspiciously.

The girl’s face turned red as the blood in her head was boiling. The video which recorded the activities of a group of assholes was molesting Poppy, made Emma instantly burn badly. She didn’t have to watch it to end just to make up her mind to kill Donny and all his friends. Emma really wanted to slam the phone with all her might. But she thought that maybe the data on the cellphone would be useful for her.

Emma stepped up slowly. She was quite surprised to see Roger who fought with Donny. Roger’s face did look battered. But he could still stand up and keep fighting Donny who also looked tired with several wounds on his face.

But that’s not the problem that made Emma tsking lazily. Behind the railing of the stairs beside her, which was the staircase leading to the next floor, Emma heard a loud back-and-forth-snoring sound. It was the voice of two large, dark-skinned men who were sleeping as sitting on the stair.

Emma didn’t have to think hard to guess that the two men who had very similar faces were the twins Gozu and Mezu, the Hell Gate’s main guard who was reported to be able to break their opponent’s spine with just one slam.

Emma didn’t understand why the twins could sleep there. However, it was something to her advantage. Most likely, the two bulls won’t wake up until the sun came up because the noise Roger and Donny made couldn’t even wake them up.

Roger had never fought before. He just practised fighting perfunctorily in his own room. He bought a punching bag, but couldn’t use it properly. It was because his body condition was very weak. Now the guy had to fight Donny, who had mastered several martial arts moves and had a bigger body than him.

But Roger had one advantage. His body was already used to blows. Maybe because he was bullied too much. Somehow, despite feeling pain, despite being hit super hard, the guy was still able to stand back up.

Emma smiled faintly, then began to walk quickly, planning to kick Donny’s stupid head who was still focused on trying to beat Roger who kept holding his punches.

‘I’ll weaken him first. Next, it’s your task to end that loser, Roger.’ Emma said in her heart.

“Where are you going?” Suddenly, a voice from behind made Emma stop her steps. Then, she looked back in horror.

Gozu and Mezu, with their demon eyes already wide open, stared at the figure of the midget man in the black helmet with murderous grins. The two of them stood up from their seats while massaging the back of their own waist which felt stiff from sleeping in a bad position.

“H-how did they wake up?” Emma muttered in disbelief.

Roger and Poppy looked at them in horror and disbelief. How could the twins be aware of Emma’s silent arrival, while they even couldn’t be awakened at all by the commotion Roger and Donny made? Was that the instinct of a leader who guarded the gates of hell?

Meanwhile, Donny seemed to be smiling with satisfaction. He was looking forward to seeing the helmeted man who had broken Brian’s shoulder to be turned into biscuit crumbs by the monster twins.

Seeing that danger had appeared like the risen sun, Emma immediately got into her stance. For real! The bodies of the two men were enormous like monsters. Their muscles were also big and looked tough. Emma gulped as she thought about how to defeat the two monsters by herself. There was no need to think anymore, to know that most likely, Emma’s punch would only feel like a tickle to the iron muscles.

‘Damn.. I’m already drained of strength from fighting the earlier group downstairs. How come they can be that big, anyway?’ Emma cried in her heart.

Emma stepped back while glancing at Roger. The guy’s face was pale and looked very worried. He knew Emma couldn’t possibly beat the two monsters. Emma could be destroyed in just an instant.

“YOU! ESCAPE NOW!!” Roger shouted at the two girls, before quickly throwing a fist at the jaw of Donny who was off guard.

But Emma didn’t think so. She immediately took a few wide steps back and picked up Roger’s baseball bat from the floor. Then, she jumped high to kick Donny in the back sending him flying to the side.

“Make that bastard understand,” Emma said by passing the stick to Roger with a toss, “I’ll definitely win against them. I didn’t approve of your agreement proposal earlier, did I?”

Roger stared in awe at Emma who was standing sturdy like a warrior. He couldn’t even believe that inside the black helmet was a beautiful ballet dancer who used to smile sweetly at him. A girl with slender fingers and silky smooth skin who had just defeated dozens of men, and was now loudly and confidently saying that she would win against two monsters who each weighed nearly three times her weight.

“I like your confidence. But you’re too na?ve,” Gozu said by clenching his fingers, “We’ll see how long you can hold on to your bones.”

Then..

The fight had begun.

Emma Hilland versus Gozu and Mezu.

Roger Timothy versus Donny Gruge.

***

‘The stands.. They are wrestlers. No wonder they have such a big body.’ Emma muttered in an alert.

It would be difficult for one person to fight two wrestlers at once. Likely, the two of them would attack simultaneously to corner Emma. The only advantage that Emma had was her body speed. Actually, being able to paralyze the two monsters was an impossible thing for Emma to do.

‘I have to find their weakness. There’s no way I can dodge their attacks until the apocalypse comes.’ Emma thought as she jumped to the side when Gozu speedily charged at her like a raging bull.

Emma had to keep her eyes open to keep an eye on both of them at once. ‘The key is not to get grabbed by them.’

The story would end if Emma were finally caught by one of the twins. Those two iron hands would break Emma’s tiny body like a toothpick.

While dodging, Emma studied the twins’ attack patterns. Most likely they only mastered wrestling techniques. From the muscle structure, maybe they would give a little combination of boxing for ranged attacks. Their type of thigh and calf muscles were very large and dense, not suitable for doing high kicks. The large body also made them unable to move too fast. They were a defensive wall that guarded the Hell Gate well. But Emma could conclude that they were not the main weapon of the group.

Gozu and Mezu, their tough muscles were like very thick armour covering every weak point in their bodies.

‘I have to take them to a smaller space.’ Emma thought.

“Come here, little mice!!” Mezu growled by jumping at the black-helmeted dwarf.

Quickly, Emma jumped away. Then, she flinched when she realized Gozu suddenly came from her right side with both hands ready to grip her.